Reels Ad Updates, Fall 2023: A Closer Look from a B2B Lens

Last month, Meta added new Reels ads features to help improve performance of ad creatives by making them more engaging and effective for both users and advertisers. Meta (which is leaning hard into Reels) states that Reels plays exceed 200 billion per day across both Facebook and Instagram. 

Given Facebook and Instagram’s improved targeting (powered by investments in AI), the platform has become increasingly viable for B2B advertisers. Some ways B2B brands should consider using Reels to connect with other professionals in their ICP include leveraging customer testimonials and case studies and educating through tutorials, webinars, and live Q&As.

In this post, I’ll look at the new releases in a bit of detail.

Breakdown of new Reels features

These new features are:

Collection Ads: 

A new way that people can find products (including B2B products) through a mobile video and a collection of swipeable images:

Multi-destination Reels Carousel Ads:

Businesses can now direct people to multiple product pages, which is a great update to show off eCommerce updates but could also be useful for B2B brands with several offers, e.g. subscription levels or service packages.

Swipe Left Functionality:

Allows users to quickly learn about a brand and shop the products that they’re interested in.

Advantage+ Creative Suite:

The Creative Suite has new automation solutions for Reels ads such as auto cropping non-9:16 image ads using automatic Reels templates. If advertisers choose to opt into these optimizations, Meta (which recommends that clients use 9:16 vertical video in Instagram and Facebook Reels) will determine which templates are most likely to work best for each ad and dynamically adjust your audience preferences

Now, with Music:

This isn’t actually a Reels update, but another new Meta feature is the ability to add music to image ads. Meta has free and high-quality music that they offer through their Meta Sound Collection library that advertisers can use during the campaign creation process in the Advantage+ Creative Editor section:

Improving Brand Suitability Solutions:

Meta’s brand suitability updates, meant to help brands avoid placements alongside potentially offensive/unsuitable content, are now available on Reels as an inventory filter. Meta states that this feature allows advertisers to control the type of content that shows up next to their ads while third-party verification acts as independent measurement and provides advertisers with transparency and reporting on content adjacent to ads.

Most Exciting New Reels Release…

IMHO, it’s the Collection Ads! They look like something I would engage in if I was on Facebook or Instagram. I like the ability to watch a video and then swipe through possible products – the video is a great way to engage users and get them invested. For B2B advertisers who need to convey more complex messaging beyond imagery, videos are an effective way to tell a little bit of a story about use cases and challenges the product(s) can solve.

If you’re interested in learning more about Reels, particularly how you can employ them in B2B campaigns, drop us a line!